Shawn Doll is dealing with the wait and the weight while deployed in Afghanistan.

A captain in the Alabama Army National Guard, the 28-year-old Pensacola resident has been in Afghanistan since June. He's waiting to come home in February to his wife, Melanie, friends and family. His homecoming plans have an element most soldiers' don't -- competing in the Alabama State Powerlifting Championships, scheduled for March 15-16 at USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.

View full sizeCaptain Shawn Doll trains while deployed in Afghanistan. (Courtesy of Alabama State Powerlifting Championships)

Doll is one of four members of the Mobile-based 226th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade with plans to compete in the event. They are with Task Force Tarpon at Camp Phoenix in Kabul. Also training for the powerlifting event, Doll said, are Major Anthony Ford of Mobile, Staff Sergeant Julie Vasquez of Prattville and Specialist Amanda Overstreet of Mobile. He said two other soldiers - 1st Lieutenant Jess Smith of Mobile and 1st Lieutenant Allison Burke of Pensacola -- also are training with an eye toward possibly participating in the meet.

"Being deployed can be stressful for a lot of reasons -- being away from family, being in a war zone or just the job you do may have more responsibility than your job at home," Doll said via email, "and weight training helps as a stress relief. It helps a lot of people have a goal to reach for. Weight training, for me, keeps me focused and motivated, and knowing I'm coming home to compete gives me a goal. I hope to, in a year, break the American record for the 181 raw bench press.

"It also helps take our minds to another place. In a way, it helps relax you from the stress of the day."

Doll said he tries to train regularly in preparation for the state meet, but that's not always possible.

"We train when we can," he said. "Our schedule varies depending on certain events. We do have the advantage of having a 24-hour gym along with a crossfit gym. The camp we're in is not very big with very little to do."

Doll began powerlifting as a student and is an advocate of adding the sport to the lineup of prep athletics.

"I actually got into weight training in high school," Doll said. "It appealed to me because I was 119 pounds my first weight meet. I never got over 129 pounds in high school. This is one of the reasons I believe all states should have a powerlifting team or weightlifting team for high school because not everyone is a gifted football player, and powerlifting would only make the football player better. It's a win-win for students.

"I had no business being on a football field. The next smallest guys were 30 to 40 pounds bigger than me. If it wasn't for weightlifting, I wouldn't have had anything in high school to be proud that I did. Weightlifting and JROTC were really the only things I was good at that I could do well being so small."